Hi,

New member over here, however have been reading in silence for sometime.

My partner, myself and child are looking to move to Spain. We really like old Benidorm, although options are always open and nothing is set in stone yet.

We both have online shops and work from home. The business phone providers can sort us a package. So as long as we have Wifi we can sustain life.

I just wondered if anyone had experience along these lines. (has an on-line business and lives in Spain) We are self employed.

We are looking at renting a 2 bedroom property for just under 3 months to give it a trial, is this something anyone else has done?

Grateful for any advice, experiences

Hi and a warm welcome to the Spanish forum on BE. Myself and Fred James are the moderators for the Spanish forums whilst BEVS moderates Europe. Moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. This is so that members gain the information that they are looking for and find their experiences on the forums to be friendly and worthwhile.

Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderator who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are usually friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge about the issues of living in Spain. I hope that you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

Yes rent for a short time to try it out, don't burn bridges in the UK and consider taking a 6 or 11 month let (standard contract lengths in Spain) to experience different times of year. Spain is so different in August compared to January. I know people who have run a company in the way you suggest with no problems. Not sure on the tax position?

Thank you so much for the reply.

Looking forward to all the possibilities.

There's a lot to look into really, more than you think.

First port of call renting and finding where you would like to settle, then that would need to be near a colegio de internacional (school) as I'm assuming your child is school age ? But if really young put them straight into Spanish school, Health insurance for the three of you and then you are both self employed so would need to register as autonomo which you have to pay monthly according to income and type's of businesses.

If you are in Spain for any 183 days of any one year you have to become fiscal resident and declare your earnings and pay tax here.

My advice would be if your child is school age then spend the school holidays here for a year first and make a decision off the back of that the following year if the child is a baby then the decision will be a lot easier as schools can cost a bomb and that combined with autonomo fee's every month will be costly and that's without rent/mortgage,car, general living, health insurance, food etc.

The way the economy is at the moment with the eurozone etc it's going to be very difficult for any young family to survive in Spain unless both of your businesses really earn well and you have no financial worry what so ever..... If this is the case then I would say what are you waiting for get over here and enjoy it, opportunity to live a healthy, fulfilled life in the sun, bring the child up speaking two languages maybe more what more could you want eh.

I do stress though if there is any financial question or doubt what so ever then be very careful with your decisions you make because when you think about it you are going to be leaving free nhs, free schooling and free self employment behind.

I wish you all the best though!!